Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
and
B. R. REES. M.A., PH.D.
SENIOR LECTURER IN GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER.
PART I
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
By ALAN ROWE
Rees has assisted with other classical inscriptions and has read through the
manuscript of my present article.
1 0. Broneer, A Guide to the Excavations of Ancient Corinth (1947), pp. 45 ff.,
Plan I, B. Reference from Mr. V. R. d'A. Desborough.
2 Rowe, Buttle and Gray, Cyrenaican Expedition of the University of Manchester
1952 (1956), PP.4 ff.
3 DTES, pp. 1 ff., n. 1 ; and PART II. Alexander the Great had a direct
association with the Memphite Serapeum, on the dromos of which, according to
Arrian, he celebrated a gymnastic and musical agon in honour of Apis (Serapis)
and other local dieties (Anabasis, iii, 1, 4). Also, his body was held in that
Serapeum for a while before it was transferred to Alexandria, where, no doubt,
it was still officially stated to be under the protection of Serapis. Cf. BULLETIN,
38, pp. 140ff.
4 Cf. the gold coin of this king mentioned on p. 493 and in Appendix C. From
our Serapeum. Tradition says it was Ptolemy I who brought from abroad a
statue of Pluto (made by Bryaxis) which was identified by the priests as one of
Serapis. But J. P. Lauer and Ch. Picard believe, " au contraire, il y a maintenant,
de plus en plus, de slrieuses raisons de penser que le Sarapis de Bryaxis a £t£
cr£6 en Egypte meme, du temps de Ptol6m6e Ier " (Les Statues Ptolematques
Ju Sarapieion de Memphis (1955), p. 241). The same authorities maintain that
it was at the Memphite Serapeum " que Bryaxis, qui travallait d£ja au Mausolee.
a dfl consacrer son Serapis " (Op. cit. p. 30, n. 4).
492 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY
Ptolemy 11 (pp. 505,510; Appendix D).1 The reader is referred
to Part II for the literary evidence about the Alexandrian
cult of Serapis (originally introduced from Memphis) in this
older period.
The L-shaped trenches seen to the left of the " great temple "
in the map are either foundation ones, or, more possibly, trenches
for a hidden underground store-room for cult objects and other
valuables. In the latter event, the short passage at the corner
of the L, near the colonnade, would have had a secret door.
From these particular trenches we collected a good number of
Ptolemaic open votive-lamps, one inscribed : " On behalf of the
household of the archon." 2
The famous Nilometer of the Serapeum, said to be a portable
one,3 was probably kept in a rock-cut square hole, having a
flight of twelve rock and twenty-nine masonry steps leading
down to its lower part, an installation we came across on the
east side of the plateau ; * see map. A passage from the lower
part connects with the great grid of subterranean aqueducts
below the ancient city, a grid which received its water from the
" Canal of Alexandria " 5 to the south. Recent measurements
1 Cf. the base of the Serapeum statue dedicated to Serapis by Asclepiodoros
and Euboulos mentioned later on, p. 494. This dates c. 300-250 B.C. (Ptolemy I-
Ptolemy II). See also the Serapeum dedications to Ptolemy II and his wife
Arsinoe (Appendix C). Still another inscription found in recent years on the
south side of the " Canal of Alexandria " (the modern el-Mahmudiya Canal),
opposite the Antoniadis Garden (cf. end map in AA), records that Archagathos,
epistates of Libya, and Stratonice, his wife, had dedicated to Ptolemy II a Sacred
Enclosure to Serapis and Isis (DTES, p. 13). The original provenance of the
inscription is uncertain.
2 DTES, p. 33.
3 Cf. particularly, J. G. Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, ii (1936), pp. 216 f. and n. 1.
This authority says that " in the age of Constantine the Greeks of Egypt still
attributed the rise of the Nile to Serapis . . ., alleging that the inundation
could not take place if the standard cubit, which was used to measure it, were
not deposited according to custom in the temple of the god. The emperor
ordered the cubit to be transferred to a church " but it was again transferred
by Julian (A.D. 361-363) to the Serapeum, where it remained until the temple
was destroyed in A.D. 391. See further, DTES, p. 32, and n. 1. For local churches
cf. p. 503 of this article.
4 A door was placed at the head of the masonry steps. Cf. PP, Pis. XLII,
Fig. l.XLIII, Fig.2,XLIV.
6 Cf. BULLETIN, 38, p. 145, Fig. 2.
PROBAMY
ROOMS FOR II5RARY, ETC.
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2 Cf. G. Botti, Plan de la Ville d'Alexandrie a I'Epoquc Ptoltmmque, for the
" Boulevard de Sarapis " running from the southern canal to the Serapeum
(republished in PP. p. 148, Fig. 9). For the canal itself, cf. BULLETIN, 38,
p. 145, Fig. 2.
3 WGIS, pp. 18 ff. * WGIS, PP. 21 ff.
5 Cf. my article in BSAA, 35, pp. 55 ff., coloured frontispiece (situla) and
Pis. XVII, XVIII. For Gnathia ware, cf. BULLETIN, 36, p. 563.
6 RSA4,35, P.62.
7 PP, P. 133,n. l,Pl.XLII.Fig.5.
ARCHAEOLOGY OF WESTERN DESERT : IV 495
type.1 popular in the first century A.D. This is mentioned in
the present historical section because the Ptolemaic Serapeum
appears to have been in use until it was almost destroyed in the
Jewish revolt under Trajan in A.D. 116.2 Professor Wace has
subjected the altar to an extensive study, pointing out among
other things that the gorgoneion on the only preserved bolster,
that to the left, differs markedly from the pathetic or mourning
type of gorgoneia on grave altars and sarcophagi, in that " it
rather resembles a cherub with puffed out cheeks blowing a
trumpet and so far no gorgoneion like this seems to have been
published ". Wace has proposed the following reconstruction of
our altar from the fragments available. Front: The presence
of the camillus and the tibicen suggests a lustratio. Right hand
side : The attitude of the togatus suggests an allocutio or some
similar subject. Left hand side : The sacrificial axe indicates
perhaps the presence of a victimarius. Also here is the tunicatus,
probably one of the sacrificial attendants (perhaps another
camillus). Back: Delicate plane leaf decoration. Possibly
also a corona civica.3
It may now be noted that in the Ptolemaic period the
Serapeum was known both as " The Temple and Sacred En-
closure of Serapis " (foundation plaques of Ptolemy III) and
*' The Temple of Serapis in Rhacotis " (inscriptions of the
Serapeum priest Pa-sheri-en-ptah). See Appendix B. We
actually came across one of the objects used by the priests in
the temple. This was an inscribed flower-pot-shaped clepsydra
or water-clock ; see also Appendix B.4
*DTES, pp. 39, Fig. 9, 40.
2 For the revolt cf. J. G. Milne, A Hist, of Egypt wider Roman Rule (1898),
p. 52.
3 A. J. B. Wace, " An Altar from the Serapeum ", in BSAA, 36, pp. 83 ft.,
Pis. VII, VIII, IX.
4 Two objects which belonged to the Ptolemaic Serapeum are the head of a
marble statue of a siren (AA, pp. 115, Fig. 48, 177 f.) and the fragment of an
inscription of the third century B.C. (IGL, No. 168). Statues of sirens actually
flanked the dromos of the Memphite Serapeum (J. P. Lauer and Ch. Picard,
Les Statues Ptolemaiques du Sarapieion de Memphis, pp. 216 ft.).
496 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY
III. THE ROMAN PERIOD
There may be some reason for believing that the Serapeum
of the Roman period was made by Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) for,
as Professor Wace has remarked, the " Nemesion was destroyed
in the great Jewish revolt under Trajan [A.D. 116], and since that
sanctuary [was] not far from the Serapeum, it is not unlikely
that the Serapeum also was wrecked at the same time and sub-
sequently rebuilt under Hadrian, who, as is well known, restored
some of the buildings in the Jewish revolt 'V This belief
seems to be supported by the fact that a magnificent life-sized
black granite statue of the bull-god of the Memphite Serapeum,
Osiris-Apis, was dedicated to the Emperor and placed in the
Roman temple. It bears the following inscription : "... to the
Great God Serapis and the gods in the same temple, for the
safety of the Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus. . . ." a
This statue may well be the one portrayed in relief in the neigh-
bouring catacombs of Kom el-Shukafa, to which a Roman emperor
is seen making an offering of a beautiful collar.3 But of course
the most famous statue in the temple was the superhuman
colossus of Serapis, made of various woods and metal; it was
in fact so large, says Rufinus, that " its right hand touched one
wall and its left one another wall ". Two colossal heads of
Serapis, one in white marble and the other in black basalt, were
found many years ago on the site.4
Generally speaking, the Romans retained the " Library"
end as well as the W.S.W. long side (where they rebuilt the
1 Cf. Wace's note in DTES, p. 64. Hadrian restored the damage done by
the Jews in Cyrenaica during Trajan's reign (Rowe, Buttle and Gray, Cyrenaican
Expedition . . . 1952, pp. 54 f.).
2 The statue (very little of it was missing) was unearthed in 1895 just to the
right of the " Atrium " indicated in our map, that is to say, not far from the
Roman temple. Cf. PP, Pis. XXXII (position of statue as found), XXXVII
(sketch of statue and copy of inscription), also IGL, No. 68. A somewhat similar
statue was found in the Memphite Serapeum (J. P. Lauer and Ch. Picard, op.
cit. pp. 13 f., Figs. 8, 9).
3 Published in my " Kom el-Shukafa in the Light of the Excavations of the
Graeco-Roman Museum . . . 1941-1942," in BSAA, 35, PI. VIII.
4 AA, pp. 115, 216 f. ; J. P. Lauer and Ch. Picard, op. cit. pp. 77 f., Figs.
36,37.
ARCHAEOLOGY OF WESTERN DESERT : IV 497
colonnade) 1 of the Ptolemaic enclosure. Also they removed (a) to
surface level, the N.N.W. end and the E.N.E. long side of the older
enclosure and (b) to foundation level, the connected temples of
Serapis, Isis (?) and Harpocrates. Further, they extended the
enclosure to the N.N.W. by 32*00 metres overall 2 and to the
E.N.E. by 28*55 metres overall. The following comparative
table is of some interest:
The new temple of Serapis was built over the remains of the
older temples of the divine triad, and was centered between the
inner long colonnades of the enlarged enclosure. This temple
has an overall width of 21*10 metres; its length is unknown.
It was probably pseudo-peripteral with its entrance facing towards
the " Library ". As in the literature of the Roman period " The
Serapeum and The Iseum" were frequently bracketed thus
together,3 it is not impossible that the supposed pre-Ptolemy
III temple of Serapis at the " Library " end of the enclosure
may, in Roman times, have been used for the worship of Isis.
The " Great Side Entrance " (see map) seems now to have been
the principal and perhaps the only entrance to the Serapeum,
and to have been reached by the flight of over a hundred steps,
running up the side of the Acropolis, as mentioned by Aphthonius
and Rufinus.4 Anyhow, it was at this very " Side Entrance ",
as we call it, that Botti came across some blocks of red granite
from a huge Roman portico.5 The Romans did not follow the
Ptolemaic method of placing foundation blocks in trenches cut
in the rock, but erected their own walls on surface foundations
1 Most of the existing columns and parts of columns are near this colonnade.
2 Based on certain measurements taken roughly N.W. from the Column by
Mahmoud el-Falaki (DTES, pp. 20, 33, 60).
3 P/>, P. 127.
4 The hundred steps are said to have led upwards into a vestibule closed by a
grille, while four columns adorned the entrance.
6 PP, p. 143, Fig. 8. The stair seen in map to left of side entrance is Ptolemaic
498 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY
consisting of small irregular pieces of limestone mixed with
cement and put between boards, the boards being removed when
the mixture had solidified.1 These foundations are extremely
hard, so much so that when we wished to remove a small section
for examination we were forced to use a drill operated by com-
pressed air.
The lofty red granite Column 2 at the E.N.E. long side of
the Roman enclosure was dedicated by Postumus (?), Prefect of
Egypt, to the Emperor Diocletian, after the latter had finally
put down (actually in Alexandria) the revolt against him by
Achilleus, the lieutenant of L. Domitius Domitianus, who had
been accepted by the Egyptians as emperor. It must have been
erected soon after A.D. 297, the year of victory. The situation
of the inscription on the upper part of the base, actually at the
W.S.W. side, clearly shows that the colossal statue 3 above the
column faced inwards towards the way leading N.N.W. through
the long center axis of the enclosure to what must have been
the outer door of the Roman Serapis temple. The inscription
reads : " To the most pious Emperor, Protector of Alexandria,
Diocletian the Invincible, Pos[tum]us, prefect of Egypt, [has
erected this column]." As Wace has pointed out, " in view of
the symmetrical arrangement of the Roman temple and enclosure
(temenos) a single column seems odd. It is just possible that
there might have been a second column erected on the west side
of the enclosure to balance the other *'.4 We actually came
across the remains of the base of this second column (see map),
a discovery duly recorded by Wace.
Adjacent to this latter base is what is generally described by
certain modern authorities as the " Atrium ", which has long
underground passages leading out of its lower part; all are
probably Roman in origin. The " Atrium " itself is a square
1 Cf. DTES, pp. 24,33 and footnotes, for references to this type of " concrete ".
2 The total height of the Column, including the base (made of various kinds
of stone) and the Corinthian capital, is 26-85 metres. The red granite shaft is
20-75 metres high, with a diameter at the base of 2-70 metres and at the top of
2'30 metres.
3 The statue was of porphyry (AA, p. 116). The Column itself was wrongly
named " Pompey's Pillar " by the Crusaders. Cf. p. 504 of this article.
*SeeinD7'ES, P.64.
ARCHAEOLOGY OF WESTERN DESERT : IV 499
rock-cut masonry-lined pit, with a staircase. Some of the
passages originally had niches, each with a rectangular coffer or
limestone covered by a sloping libation-table with a grooved top.
Smaller niches, but with sloping tables of rock, are in the upper
parts of the walls. Botti, who cleared out the whole complex,
reported some interesting finds, including two graffiti (" An act
of devotion of Dorotheos and all his family ", and *' An act of
devotion of Ammonios "), as well as a white marble votive slab
bearing the following inscription : " To Hermanoubis, the great
god who hears us and is beneficent to us, Serapion son of Dionysos,
of the Serapideian deme, and Eucleia his sister and wife, [have
dedicated this stela] for Dionysos their son, the Xllth Year, the
Vlllth of Athyr." Other objects consisted of statuettes of
Hermanoubis, Serapis and Venus; of lamps of various types,
one of them Early Christian ; and a tiny plaquette of gold with
Latin inscription.1 The significance of the " Atrium " and its
passages is so far unknown.
We now come to the piscina 2 situated in that part of the
dromos near the Column. The floor of this great sacred tank
was of concrete and, as we believed there might be foundation
deposits present, we searched in the corners below it and dis-
covered, under huge blocks of limestone, a total of fifty-eight
bronze coins and three silver ones. These coins, as Professor
Wace informed us, date from the time of Trajan (A.D. 98-117)
to that of Julia Domna, wife of Severus (A.D. 193-211). He
suggests that the coins might indicate repairs to the Roman
Serapeum carried out after the fire there in the reign of
Commodus (A.D. 181).3
In the Serapeum area we came across a number of cisterns,
pits for water, and so forth, full details of which are given in
1 DTES, pp. 34 ff., Fig. 7. A very fine statue of Hermanoubis was found
many years ago in a Roman shrine of the deity situated at Ras el-Soda, a place
outside Alexandria and near the road to Abukir.
2 Professor R. A. Cordingley, who has kindly discussed with me some
architectural problems affecting the Serapeum, suggests that both the " Atrium "
and the piscina were enlarged from foundation holes excavated to hold two more
huge columns on the site, thus perhaps making four columns in all before the
Roman temple.
8 DTES, pp. 61 ff. (See also PP. p. 127, n. 3 ; DTES, p. 63, n. 1.)
500 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY
our excavation reports. They are mostly Roman. Among the
interesting objects of this later period which we unearthed are
the following: (1) A broken base of black granite with the
inscription : " To Zeus, Helios the Great, Serapis and the Gods
in the same temple ... in the year ... of Augustus."
Hadrianic or Antonine period. (2) Slab of marble with the
inscription : " To Zeus, Helios the Great, Serapis and the Gods
in the same temple for the safety of Augustus Caesar. ..."
Same date as No. I.1 (3) Hand holding cornucopia, from
colossal marble statue of Fortuna (?).2 (4) Part of black granite
vase, perhaps Canopic pot for containing parts of the body
removed during embalmment.3 (5) Parts of a unique Late
Roman bowl of light-brown pottery beautifully decorated in
colours with life-like figures of birds and branches of trees. The
bird is the Rosy Pastor (Pastor roseus), a member of the starling
family. It was the theleukias of the Greeks and was known to
them as a great devourer of locusts in the spring and a devourer
of fruit in the autumn.4
Objects of the Roman period found in the Serapeum before
our excavations are listed as follows by Botti: (1) " Inscription
latine en 1'honneur de C. Minicius Italus, prefet de 1'Egypte "
(A.D. 105) ; (2) " Torse d'une statuette d'Antinoiis Hermes " ;
(3) " Inscriptions des veterans de la onzieme legion en 1'honneur
de Septime Severe " (A.D. 193-211) ; and (4) " Aigle remain en
marbre ".5 Still another object is the torso of a marble statue
of Mithras found in 1905/6. The god was lion-headed and
wears a kind of tunic adorned with stars, a crescent, scarabs,
Apis bulls, a serpent, and so forth. In his right hand is a flail
or key.6 Finally may be mentioned a fragment of slab of the
time of Caracalla (A.D. 211-217).7
1 WGIS, pp. 25 f. I take this opportunity of thanking Professor Wace for
publishing the inscriptions we found in the Serapeum. The details of them
given in the present article are based on his work.
2 PP, P. 138, PI. XXVI I, Fig. 3.
3 PP, p. 144.
* DTES, coloured frontispiece, pp. 49, 67 fi. For provenance, cf. PI. XIII.
6 L'Acropole d'Alexandrie ei le Strapeum, pp. 29 fi.
*AA, P. 216, No. 50;; PP, pp. 131, n. 2, 159, PI. XLII, Fig. 4.
7 IGL, No. 85. Other Roman inscriptions from the site are Nos. 150, 155.
ARCHAEOLOGY OF WESTERN DESERT : IV 501
The archaeological evidence we have given about the Roman
Serapeum may now be compared with the following brief
resume of the informative but not altogether correct accounts of
Pseudo-Callisthenes, Aphthonius and Rufinus.1 A monumental
flight of steps, we are told, led up to the plateau on top of a rocky
hill. Here stood a colonnaded enclosure in the center of which
was the great temple adorned with columns of precious materials
and built with magnificent marbles. The interior walls of the
shrine were covered with plates of gold, of silver and bronze,
and there was a bronze frieze representing the combats of
Perseus. There was also a window cleverly arranged so that at
every season of the year the first rays of the sun fell on the lips of
the god. (The description of the statue, by Rufinus, has been
already given.) In the temple were dedicated many rich offer-
ings. The capitals of the columns were covered with gilt
bronze. The porticoes and the exedras of the enclosure were
adorned with statues and works of art. There was also in the
enclosure a building with a hundred doors, each bearing the
name of some ancient divinity, and rooms in which lived the
priests and devotees. In addition, there were two obelisks of
granite, a column of Helios (= Serapis), a monumental fountain,
and, of course, the great Library of the Serapeum. We further
learn that there were statues of the twelve demiurges 2 of the
Acropolis. These statues,3 it seems to us, on the analogy of the
twelve or so statues of philosophers and others found in the
exedra of the dromos of the Memphite Serapeum,4 might well
have portrayed the same or other sages. In support of this idea
must be mentioned the fact that Mimaut, about the middle of
1 For references see PP, pp. 124 ff.; WGIS, pp. 4 ff.
2 Wace calls them "creators". Cf. Oxford Classical Dictionary (1950),
p. 265.
3 Botti suggests they represented Claudius I, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius,
Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius
(A.D. 41-161), but there are no grounds at all for this suggestion (PP, p. 127).
4 Cf. J. P. Lauer and Ch. Picard, Les Statues Ptotemdtques du Sarapieion de
Memphis, p. 153, for the following list: " (1) Pindare, (2) Demetrios de Phalere,
(3) x (?), (4) Orphic (?) aux oiseaux, (5) Hesiode, (6) Homere, (7) x (?), (8)
Protagoras, (9) Thales, (10) Heraclite, (11) Platon, (12) Aristote (?)." Statues
Nos. 2, 4, 7, 9, 11 are standing; the rest are seated.
32
502 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY
the nineteenth century, saw in our Serapeum nine standing
statues holding rolls in their hands,1 reminding one of a type
of philosopher holding a volumen (comparable with the statue
of Plato of the Memphis exedra) shown in a mosaic at Naples.2
In the Graeco-Roman Museum, Alexandria, and in the Museum
at Cyrene, are several standing statues of so-called " orators ",
each with a capsa or case containing rolls. Some of the
Memphite Serapeum statues are seated on chairs with lion's
legs, and, as we found part of a white marble chair of this type
in the Alexandria Serapeum, it seems that this chair could
have seated one of the very twelve local statues to which we
have referred.3 Well might Ammianus Marcellinus write of
this Serapeum that " it possesses such vast halls with columns,
and is decorated with figures in such high relief as to appear
alive, and has so many other works of art, that nothing in the
world is considered more sumptuous than it except the Capitol,
which is the eternal pride of the august city of Rome." 4
V. HISTORICAL RESUME
I. PHARAONIC PERIOD
For the various objects belonging to this period (1970-360 B.C.)» see
Appendix A.
II. "OLDER PTOLEMAIC TEMPLE OF SERAPIS"
Alexander the Great, Ptolemy I, or Ptolemy II. One of these rulers probably
erected the above-mentioned temple and made its passage for the oracle,
as well as, perhaps, the dromos. Cf. map ; pp. 491 ff.; PART II.
Ptolemy I (305-283/2 B.C.) Gold coin found on the dromos, p. 493 ; Appendix C.
Ptolemy II (283-245 B.C.). Traditionally said to have founded the Serapeum
Library and to have kept there the Septuagint made during his reign.
Appendix D. Statue dedicated to his wife Arsinoe ; hollow altar dedicated
to the king and queen. Appendix C. Statue dedicated to Serapis by
Asclepiodoros and Euboulos ; said to date from first half of third century
B.C., p 494. Wace adds that this statue " may well antedate the reign of
Ptolemy III and consequently the building of the great Serapeum. This
then may be taken as supporting Tacitus' statement that a sanctuary of
Serapis and Isis stood on this site, then called Rhacotis, before the construc-
tion of the great Serapeum." WGIS, p. 18. [Archagathos, epistates of
Libya, and his wife dedicated to the king a Sacred Enclosure for Serapis
and Isis ; inscription found in an eastern suburb of Alexandria not in
Rhacotis, p. 492.)
Note. There is of course no direct evidence to show that the coin, the
two statues, and the altar originally belonged to the " older temple ", but
they may well have done so. The statues themselves came from the
" Library " end of the Ptolemy III enclosure.
1818 was published the Description de VEgypte (Antiquites, Description) ii, the
Alexandria section of which (pp. 88 ff.) gives references to the Serapeum com-
piled by Napoleon's savants. It is to be noted that the, respective chronologies
cited in our article are after E. Drioton and J. Vandier, L'Egypte (1952), pp. 627 ff.;
E. Bevan, A Hist, of Egypt under the Ptolemaic Dynasty (1927) ; and J. G. Milne,
A Hist, of Egypt imder Roman Rule (1898). Other chronological systems for the
Ptolemaic period are mentioned in BULLETIN, 38, p. 153, n. 3.
506 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY
III. SERAPEUM OF PTOLEMY III AND PTOLEMY IV
Ptolemy III (247-221 B.C.). Built the great " Temple and Sacred Enclosure of
Serapis " (var. " Temple of Serapis in Rhacotis "), as well as, no doubt, the
adjacent Temple of Isis (?). He included in the enclosure, near the " Lib-
rary " end, the " Older Ptolemaic Temple of Serapis ". The statues of the
two deities must have been of marble. [The king and his queen, Berenice,
dedicated a Sacred Enclosure to Osiris at Abukir, outside Alexandria, p.509 .]
Ptolemy IV (221-203 B.C.). Dedicated a temple to Harpocrates in the Serapeum.
[He dedicated a temple to Serapis and Isis in another part of Alexandria
also in Rhacotis, p. 509.]
Ptolemy V-VI (203-145 B.C.). Stone water-clock used in the Serapeum.
Appendix B. [From a street north of the Serapeum came the upper part
of a column bearing the names of Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II, his wife;
associated details suggest that the object was from a local temple of Osiris,
or even from the funerary temple of the king. Still another object from in
or near Alexandria (exact provenance unknown), consisting of part of a
statue of Ptolemy VI, contains an inscription stating that the " Living
Apis " and " Mnevis " Bulls were installed in their sanctuaries, obviously
at Memphis and Heliopolis, respectively. The king was born about the
same time as the Apis bull.1]
C. Minicius Italus, Prefect of Egypt (A.D. 105), p. 500.
Trajan. In A.D. 116 much of the Serapeum was probably destroyed in the great
Jewish revolt, p. 496. For coin see p. 499.
1 For full details cf. Alan Rowe, " New Light on jEgypto-Cyreneean
Relations ", etc., in AS, Cahier No. 12 (1948), pp. 42 ff., Fig. 8, PI. IV.
ARCHAEOLOGY OF WESTERN DESERT : IV 507
Julian (A.D. 361-363). Cubit transferred back to the Serapeum, p. 492.
Theodosius I (A.D. 378-395). Serapeum destroyed by the patriarch Theophilus,
A.D. 391, pp. 502 f.
Arcadius (?) (A.D. 395-408). A monastery installed on the site and a church
built there in honour of St. John the Baptist, later known as the Angelium
or Evangelium. Destroyed in A.D. 600, p. 503. Still another local church
was " Honorius ", loc. cit.
APPENDICES
XXV * Ra-meny (small ruler of Lower Egypt; date of dynasty, 751-656 B.C.).
Ushebty-figure, i.e. model of funerary field-worker. Unglazed
brown pottery. RFF, pp. 35, 37, Fig. 2.
XXVI Psammetichus I 1 (663-609 B.C.). Statue. PM ; PP, pp. 133 f., 154 f. f
Pis. XXXIII, D. 2 and XXXVI, Fig. 2.
Psammetichus I. Block in above-mentioned substructure. PM ; PP,
pp. 129, 153, PI. XXXIII, B.I.
* Amasis II (568-526 B.C.). Fragment. DTES, p. 31, n. 2.
XXX Nectanebo I (378-360 B.C.). Fragment of sphinx. Black basalt.2
1 According to Wace, the " Serapeum Library was perhaps a reading library
for the general public, while the Mother Library [situated in another part of the
cityj remained the mam research library for the scholars of the Mouseion ". The
former Library held nearly 50,000 books (WGIS, pp. 5, 13). A granite box
from one of the Alexandrian libraries is inscribed : " Three volumes by
Dioscurides " (BULLETIN, 38, p. 155).
2 These rooms recall the twenty or so " schools " which Benjamin de Tudela
(c. A.D. 1160) indicated were inside a great and beautiful edifice " hors de la ville
d'Alexandrie ".
3 The ducts were connected with the furnaces by means of pottery flues.
4 Syncellus refers the foundation of the Serapeum Library to the 132nd
Olympiad.
5 For handles of amphorae bearing (as we were informed) Hebrew seal-
impressions they came from a drain in one of our " Library " rooms see
BULLETIN, 38, pp. 154 f. Cf. Hesperia, SuPP. VIII (1949), PP. 182 f. Ptolemy
III took a great interest in literature (DTES, p. 25, n. 2).
512 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY
3. The Serapeum Library, the supposed remains of which we found, was made
by Ptolemy III (247-221 B.C.), who would naturally have transferred the
contents of any older library on the site to his own magnificent one.
4. The Serapeum Library perhaps received some of the volumes from the
Pergamum Library which Antony gave to Cleopatra after the " Alexandrian
War " of Julius Caesar (48 B.C.).
5. The Library must have been largely destroyed in the Jewish revolt under
Trajan (A.D. 116), and restored under Hadrian (?).
6. It was probably damaged by fire in the time of Commodus (A.D. 181).
7. The Library and the Serapeum as a whole were 'closed in the time of
Constantine (A.D. 325).
8. It was possibly as a result of this closure that George of Cappadocia removed
the Library in A.D. 361 (?).
9. Anyhow, the Serapeum itself, as a whole, was finally destroyed under
Theodosius I in A.D. 391, and if any of the Library volumes were still
there, they must have perished.
10. Paulus Orosius, a Spanish presbyter, appears to be a witness to the non-
existence of the Library in A.D. 416.
11. The stories of Abd el-Latif (A.D. 1162/3-1231) and Abu'1 Faraj Barhebraeus
(A.D. 1226-1286) to the effect that the Serapeum Library was burnt by
Amr ibn el-Asi (c. A.D. 641) are certainly without any foundation.1
A. R.
ADDENDA TO WESTERN DESERT ARTICLE No. Ill (BULLETIN, VOL. 38, No. 1)
P. 159, line 16. Read " Schiess ".
P. 164, line 11, for " same " read " east ".
Pp. 156 fi. In view of doubts which have been raised in a certain quarter
about the location of Alexander's tomb suggested in the article (a quarter
which unkindly neglected to refer to my mention of the important inscription
of the stela of the official Pa-sheri-en-ptah), it may be added that Professor
H. W. Fairman, to whom I again wish to express my thanks for all his help so
generously given, lends the weight of his authority as an expert on the Ptolemaic
Period to my proposed identification. And, it may be stated, that great Hellenist,
the late P. Jouguet, agreed with my suggestion about the site of the Rhacotis
tomb.
A. R.
1 The references in this Appendix are mostly from DTES, pp. 22 fi., quoting,
among other sources, J. White, Mgyptica (1801), pp. 41 ff.; A. J. Butler, The
Arab Conquest of Egypt (1902), pp. 402 ff. For excavation notices, see Wace,
in ;//S(1945), pp. 106 ff.; Jouguet, in CRAI (1946), pp. 680 ff.; Picard,
in REV. ARCH. (1947), pp. 71 f.; etc.
PART II
Estate in Egypt in the Third Century B.C." (in Archiv. vii (1924), pp. 77 ff.), but
he did not then know that the latter was built by Ptolemy III or that a temple
of earlier date would be discovered in the enclosure, and so he could not
anticipate Jouguet's objection.
1 Mr. Rowe's records, listed in Appendix C, of dedications to Philadelphus
and Arsinoe within the enclosure prove no more than that the site was in use in
their time. The only trace so far found of Ptolemy I's reign is a gold coin
bearing his inscription, which is inconclusive.
520 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY
Ptolemy III,1 and that the earlier temple might well be the
sacellum of Tacitus but actually built by Parmeniscus to house
the statue of Bryaxis in the time of Ptolemy I, perhaps even
before the latter became King of Egypt. But it remains equally
possible that Ptolemy I built no temple at all at Rhacotis and
that the mysterious Parmeniscus was Euergetes' architect, in
which case we should be left with the embarrassing question,
" Who then did build the sacellum? " Unfortunately, the
weakness of our sources does not permit us to answer, as we
might like to answer, " Alexander the Great".
1 Others, e.g., Jouguet and now Lauer and Picard, have come to a similar
conclusion, but without a proper consideration of the new evidence and its
implications in the light of the passage in Tacitus. I am grateful to Mr. Rowe
for allowing me to add this note on the new evidence and for reading and
criticising it from the archaeological point of view.